brooks



(No Model.)

E. J. BROOKS.

SEAL.

Patented Aug. 26, 1884..`

@Ntra raras EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO E. J. BROOKS 85 CO., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 304,164, dated August 26, 1884.

Application tiled May 512, 1884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. Bnooirs, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seals, (G2) of which the following is a specification.

In common with numerous seal inventions heretofore patented by me, the present invention relates to that general class of seals 1o in which flexible shackles are combined with or provided with means for uniting ytheir ends after they are passed through pairs of staples or the like, so that a freight-ear door, for example, so sealed cannot be opened r without so breaking` or marring some part of the seal as to insure the detection of its violation.

This invention is additional, more particularly, to one set forth in my speeieation forming 2o part of the United States Patent No. 298,168, dated May 6, 1884. Each of the seals therein described is composed of a shackle of sheet metal and a seal-disk. of hard or relatively hard and rigid or substantially rigid mate- 2 5 ria sufficiently adapted to resist bursting strains, the shackle only being pressed or stamped at the sealing operation. By providing for pressing or stamping the shackle ends in a particular way, I'nd that I can employ or use with great advantage, in somewhatl similar seals, glass, pottery, and other materials for the seal-disks, rendering them frangible or brittle as well as hard and rigid, their brittleness providing for quickly open- 3 5 ing a sealed door or the like without the aid of a shackle-cutter by breaking the brittle seal-disk, while the high degree of rigidity incident to brittleness precludes bending the seal-disk or in any way opening the threading 4o hole or holes therein, so as to release either shackle end without breaking the seal-disk, and the transparency readily obtained with glass exposes to view those portions of the shackle within the seal-disk, so that the seals may be thoroughly inspected without straining them. Moreover, with such rigid and brittle seal-disks of very simple forms adapted to be cheaply produced, and to be reused an indefinite number of times, if so desired, I am 5o enabled to use shackles of soft wire as well as (No model.)

sheet-metal shackles, and to securely fasten the same by simple modes of pressing which have not heretofore been successfully used in any such way, so far as I am informed.

This invention consists, first, in a rigid and brittle seal-disk of transparent glass having contracted threading-holes, (one or a pair,) in combination with a metallic shackle having its threading end or ends fitted to said threading-holes and adapted to be threaded through the seal-disk or a portion thereof, and exposed below or beyond the same, and to be secured against withdrawal by pressing or stamping the threaded-end or ends at a point so eX- posed, to forni fastening projections thereon without straining the seal-disk, whereby all forth are rendered available and utilized; secondly, in a rigid and brittle seal-disk having its threading hole or holes in one edge and a pressing-aperture crossing the same, eX- tending through the seal-disk from face to back to give access to the threaded shackle ends at a point beyond a threaded portion thereof, so that the same may be grasped and pressed or stamped therethrough without straining the seal-disk; and, thirdly, in a sealdisk of the description last stated made of transparent glass, so as to expose to view those portions of the shackle within it, and molded with permanent distinguishing-niarks, ashereinafter set forth. A sheet of drawings accompanies this specication as part thereof.

Figure l of these drawings is a face View of a glass and tin seal embodying the several features of construction aforesaid, showing the shackle straight and unthreaded. Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a face view and a sectional edge view of the same seal applied to a pair of car-door staples and pressed in a preferred way, Fig. 3 illustrating the pressing operation. Fig. 4 represents a back View of the same seal pressed by different dies. Fig. 5 is a face view of another glass and tin seal with its shackle straight and unthreaded, the seal-disk being shown half in section. Fig. 6 is a face View ofthe seal-.disk of another, and Fig. 6X an elevation of this seal applied to a pair of sealing-staples and pressed. Fig. 7 is a face view the several advantages of the latter above set ICO of the seal-disk of a glass and wire seal, and Figs. 7x and 7Z edge views of this seal pressed; and Fig. 8 is a sectional edge view ot' an unpressed seal of transparent glass and any preferred sheet metal, the several sets ot gures representing modifications of one and the same improved seal.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In all the several forms represented by the drawings, this improved seal is composed of a flexible metallic shackle, A, or A5, or A, or AT, or A8, and a seal-disk, B, or B5, or B, or B7, or B8, of glass, which renders it transparent, rigid, and brittle, and at the same time weather-proof and sufficiently strong for practical' purposes; and each seal-disk has a contracted threading hole or holes, 71 and each shackle has threading ends e (two or one) fitted to said holes, and adapted to be inserted into and to extend through the seal-disk or a portion thereof' therein, and to be provided with fastening projections, f, by pressing or stamping, at a point below or beyond an inclosed portion thereof', after the application of the seal to cardoor staples G, or whatever they are to unite, without straining the brittle seal-disk at the pressing operation, while, owing to the transparency ot' the latter, the fastened seal may also be thoroughly inspected without straining it, as aforesaid. In the preferred form, as represented b Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, a single threading-hole, h, extends inward from the upper edge of an oval seal-disk, B, and is crossed by an oblong pressing-aperture, a, extending through' the.

seal-disk from face to back. The latter admits a pair of divided dies, D D, Figs. 1 and 3, portions of which, fitted loosely to the ends of said aperture a., advancefirst into the aperture, as indicated by arrows 1, Fig. 3, and grasp the threaded shackle ends tightly bctween them, after which the inner portions of the dies advance, as represented by arrows 2, Fig. 3, and form the fastening projections f (in the form of raised numbering-figures, for example) perpendicular to the face of the threaded shackle ends without the possibility of straining the seal-disk. The dies are then retracted to release the pressed seal, and the operation, which is adapted Vto be as quickly performed as any pressing operation, is thus concluded. The sealdisk B is, moreover, made of transparent glass, so as to expose to view those portions ofthe shackle ends within it after the seal is pressed, and is molded with cameo and intaglio distinguishing-marks m m on its face and back, respectively, to. render counterfeiting difficult or impossible. Colored particles embedded in the glass and other arbitrary or secret marks may also be used. The shackle A is of tin, (tin-plate,) for which any preferred sheet metal-such as thin iron or brass-may be substituted as equivalents. Itis of the simple form used in various seals, and is simply provided at the factory with indelible detector-marks d in the form of lines or end shading, as heretofore proposed by me, to insure detection should a shackle end be eut off, reinserted, and repressed. With such detector-marks d on the shackle the fastening projections f may, with reasonable safety, be raised by simple punches, as illustrated by Fig. 4. They are shown 1n this figure as a pair, projecting, respectively, forward and backward, simultaneously formed by pyramidal punch-points on a pair of dies, which may beV similar otherwise to those represented at D D, Figs. l and 3, as aforesaid. lVhen such simple punch-dies are to be used, distinguishing detector-marks on the shackle-such, for example, as lettering d on the shackle A-is preferable, and the sealdisk B5 may be advantageously formed of circular or like simple shape, and ofsmall size, with its aperture a of corresponding form, the fastening-dies D2 to be made of corresponding face outline, as :represented by Fig. 5. This figure shows cameo and intaglio distinguishingmarks m m on and in one and the saine side ot' the seal-disk. Either form may be used, and different combinations and arrangements thereof may aid in designating seals appropriated to different uses, locations, or directions of travel, so as to facilitate distinguishing them by feeling.

In the modification illustrated by Figs. G, 6x, both ends c of a plain sheet-metal shackle, A, are threading ends, and, after insertion together through a single contractedthreadinghole, 71, in a glass seal-disk, Biot distinctive shape, and provided with intaglio distinguishing-marks m', are provided with fastening projections fin the form of raised distinguishing-marks, which may be produ cedl by vordinary seal-presses fitted with single dies, such as I have heretofore proposed and used. (See United States Patent No.,296,12l, dated April 1, 1884.) The absolute rigidity and brittleness of the glass seal-disk B precludes releasing either vshackle end without the aid of the oppositely-raised fastening projections which constituted the basis of a previous invention embodied in seals and tags7 somewhat similar in form to this modification of thepresent seal, as set forth in my specifications forming part of United States Patents No. 236,539, dated January 11, 1881, No. 242, 259, dated May 31, 1881, and No. 258,278, dated May 23, 1882. Moreover, in combination with va substantially similar glass seal-disk, Bl, having apair of threading-holes, 7L h, of appropriate shape and size, round (or square) wire may be used for the metall-ic shackle A7, as illustrated by Figs. 7 7 x, 7 Z, the fastening projections f being in this case thrown out laterally in the act of stamping the ends with initials or the like. Wire of soft copper or lead is preferred for this use, and one end may be pressed or 'stamped before the seal is used, to preliminarily unite the parts, as heretofore proposed by me.

In the modication illustrated by Fig. 8 one end, e', of a sheet-metal shackle, A8, is made ICO fast within the rigid and brittle sealdisk IB8 in the act of molding the latter, as heretofore proposed by me, the other end (not shown) being the threading end, which is fitted to a threading-hole, h, in the rigid and brittle sealdisk, being adapted to be fastened by stamping or pressing this threading end below the seal-disk in the same manner, for example, as illustrated by Fi g. 6X.

The shapes and sizes of the seal-disks, with the widths, lengths, and colors of the shackles, and the marks on each, are immaterial, save as they serve to distinguish genuine seals and seals belonging to different roads or appropriated to particular uses, as heretofore proposed by me, and variations thereof such as are illustrated may be multiplied at will.

I also propose to make seals such as either of those represented by Figs-1 to 5, inclusive,with seal-disks of pottery or other material, which will render them rigid, brittle, weather-proof, and suflicientl y strong for practical purposes.

Having thus described my said improvement in seals, (G2) I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specificationl. An improved seal composed of a rigid and brittle seal-disk of transparent glass, having a contracted threading hole or holes, and aflexible metallic shackle having a threading end or ends fitted to said hole or holes, and adapted to extend through the seal-disk, or a portion thereof, to be exposed beyond the same, and to be provided witlifastening projections by pressingor stamping said shackle end or ends at a point so exposed without straining the seal-disk, substantially as herein specified, for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with a flexible metallic shackle adapted to be provided with fastening projections by pressing or stamping it, a rigid and brittle seal-disk having a contracted threading hole or holes extending inward from one edge, and a pressing-aperture crossing said hole or holes, extending through the seal-disk from front to back, and adapted to admit dies for grasping and pressing or stamping the threaded shackle ends within said aperture without straining the seal-disk, sub stantially as herein specified.

3. A rigid and brittle seal-disk of 'transparent glass, having a contracted threading hole or holes extending inward from one edge thereof, and a pressing-aperture crossing said hole or holes, which extends through from face to back, and moldedwith permanent distinguishing-m arks, in combination with a iiexi- `ble metallic shackle having its ends'iitted to said hole or holes and adapted to be pressed or stamped within said aperture, those portions of the shackle within the seal-disk being exposed to View by the transparency of the latter, substantially as herein specified.

EDVARD J. BROOKS. 

